Biggest Concern in Calgary?

[ForeverFlameFan]

After that atrocious heritage classic and now currently third-to-last place after losing 5 straight games, only in front of the lowly Oilers and awful Sharks, I figured this would be a good time to revisit something I asked almost 3 years ago.

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=182577

Back in in March of 2021 we talked about 7 different factors in running a hockey club. Players have departed, namely Bennett, Monahan, Gaudreau, and Tkachuk to name a view. Multiple HC changes, Treliving is gone, new additions to the lineup, etc.

The 7 things:

1. Core - the guys you build around, the franchise players, the cornerstones.

2. Core’s Supporting Cast - Non-core players, the secondaries that help improve the core.

3. Coaching - HC, AC, goalie coach, etc.

4. Ownership (Edwards) - owner(s) of the Flames, direction of the team, anything involving the new arena

5. GM - Craig Conroy/Brad Treliving —> UFA signings, trading, hiring, anything a GM does. Conroy has had a very brief stint here, so Brad Treliving discussion in my opinion is still warranted. He did leave his mark prior to departure; one would argue for the worst.

6. Scouting/Prospect Development/AHL - how well we’re drafting, how well we’re doing in developing our prospects into becoming NHLers, and how well we do to allow them to get NHL stints.

7. Leadership - How well the team is being lead, whether by coach, captain, or veterans.

It was interesting to read the comments from the previous time I asked which one of these 7 was causing the biggest issue. However, I think the problem(s) have become more visible and prevalent, and not only one of these can really be penciled as main issue. Perhaps the question shouldn't be which one is the biggest issue, but rather, what is the first problem we need to address to start fixing this club into becoming a playoff regular with a bright future ahead of them? I can give my own detailed response later today.

[1qqaaz]

In addition to the above:

For the first time in a long while, I think there are substantial concerns over effort, even on a game-to-game basis.

Reminds me of the Brent Sutter era shortly before the lockout.

[CFO]

Nothing shakes up a team like a trade!

[SutterBrother]

The core.

1) We lack top end talent. We're soft as butter. Perhaps most importantly we lack anyone who cares about the city of Calgary.

2) If our core was secondary support, we might be ok.

3) One of the best coaches in hockey history got us to within a point of the post season despite not having a goalie. No other coach will do better. No point changing it again now.

4) Ownership spends to the cap, and secured a new building. I suppose that's his job. We'll see if he "allows" a rebuild now that it's clear there is zero chance of making the playoffs.

5) GM - TBD. Early returns brutal, but needs at least a couple seasons in fairness.

6) Scouting - 10/10 - Fox, Tkachuk, J.G., Wolf, Mangi. Coronato looks like a stud.

7) There is no leadership. You don't have the talent to compete on the scoreboard, so at the very least you should be sticking up for your teammates, and we don't have that.

[Goriders]

I think the biggest concerns are:

- no game breaker on offense
- too many guys that don’t hate losing
- too many guys that back down from physical play

The Flames are a very soft team. Other teams must love playing them.

[PepsiFree]

[Bonded]

Murray Edwards

[Vinny01]

Biggest concern now is the boat anchor contracts that will hold this team back for many years. I think with the UFA’s there is a great opportunity to land some assets for rentals. The bug deals will big them down. I wonder if there is an opportunity to send Weegar to Ottawa and get out of that deal before it looks like an albatross.

Markstrom might be able to play himself into some value so that is a positive. It is going to be a miserable time here until the Flames can land the next face of the franchise which could be as early as next draft.

[Erick Estrada]

I have no concerns. This is not going to be a season to remember but it's necessary as this team badly needs a top 5 talent infusion into the organization. Worse would be the team getting off to a hot start, leading to feel good signings of Lindholm, Zadorov, etc only for the team to revert to this in the middle of the season. This start has made things much easier for Conroy as well as the pending UFA's. There's zero reason Lindholm should be looking to sign here and really not a lot of reasons that Conroy should be trying to keep this group together as it's simply not a good mix of players and best course of action is just to take the lumps and start building the next core through the draft.

[Gaskal]

Soon as Looch leaves, the team starts getting pushed around again

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The amateur scouting is really solid to great. Lots of gems found in later rounds that have kept this team competitive without high level picks. Development has been decent, especially in recent years, but I know very little about the current coach to say it will remain solid. We didn't do enough to give some guys a shot at a spot, but we've still graduated plenty of prospects over the years. That should be better with Conroy at the helm.

That's what's going well. The rest? It's a big ####ing problem.

We have two parts to the core. Older guys on retirement contracts that don't give a ####, and younger guys ready to get their next big contract...who also don't seem to give a #### about this team. Get rid of the ones about to expire and live with the vets that you can't lose. You still have to reach the cap floor, and two albatross contracts will help you do that while you bring in the youth (see Arizona).

Supporting players aren't really an issue for the most part, but guys like Dube have not progressed as expected, and quite frankly he's become a liability on the ice. I think some of these guys can be kept on for some veteran experience during a rebuild, but others should be moved out for whatever you can get.

Leadership is suspect. I like Backlund, but I think a lot of guys are just checked out and won't listen to him at this point. He's not a big rah-rah type of captain, so it's all "lead by example" with him while having pointed conversations with certain players when they're not playing well. There isn't really an identity to this team, and that's on leadership to define.

Coaching is a concern. I like Huska and the other coaches in how they approach the game and their method of working with players, but the results right now show a team that cannot or will not learn to play the game the way he envisions it. It's his job to get players to buy in and learn the system. Nobody else can do that for him. I'm worried he won't be able to get the job done.

Management has the right mindset, but I worry that a green GM like Conroy will get taken to the cleaners too often before he learns some hard lessons. That Toffoli trade looks rough so far. Hard to judge him on anything other than standing pat being a smart move for this roster. I'll form a judgement when he makes the obvious and correct choice about this team and the expiring UFAs.

Ownership is a major ####ing problem, and has been for at least the last 5 years. Not allowing a rebuild is stupid because it's gonna happen anyway if you force teams to try and remain competitive when it's clear they aren't going to be. I just hope they let Connie do his job when the writing is clearly on the wall.

Basically, the team is about to head into a major tailspin, and it's going to be an ugly few seasons before anything resembling a respectable franchise will emerge. Hold on to your butts.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Soon as Looch leaves, the team starts getting pushed around again

Yeah but the 4th line isn't getting caved in on a nightly basis.

[bucksmasher]

The hockey team

[bax]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Biggest concern now is the boat anchor contracts that will hold this team back for many years. I think with the UFA’s there is a great opportunity to land some assets for rentals. The bug deals will big them down. I wonder if there is an opportunity to send Weegar to Ottawa and get out of that deal before it looks like an albatross.

Markstrom might be able to play himself into some value so that is a positive. It is going to be a miserable time here until the Flames can land the next face of the franchise which could be as early as next draft.

Call me crazy, but I don’t really think any of the big contracts are a huge issue. At least not in the short term. The team is being forced into a rebuild so the cap space is whatever and now you have some veterans around for the rebuild.

Kadri’s contract is actually pretty buyout friendly for the last 2 seasons when you’re realistically looking at starting to compete for the playoffs again. The Weegar deal is completely fine. You could trade that contract at some point if you wanted to.

Huberdeau’s is a boat anchor and he’s here for the long haul. This could be a serious issue for the last 3-4 years of the deal, but hopefully with the cap rising it is manageable.

[Macho0978]

Lack of talent to make plays and chemistry.

For this team to be good, Lindholm and Huberdeau need to click. They aren't and the lack of speed for both seem to be a big issue for them to create.

I've been pro keep Lindholm for a while, but we are stuck with Kadri and Huberdeau and if the 3 don't click together we need to find someone that will.

Sell this year, hopefully draft at the top of the draft and see what options we have next summer. Maybe we get lucky enough to draft 1st, add a franchise center.

[madmike]

The 1st round pick they owe the Canadiens is my biggest concern. Could be a good one if Florida sucks. Although it won’t likely be as good as the Flames’ natural pick.

[Flames1217]

My two biggest concerns are the direction and the lack of patience the ownership/management team has shown with this group.

Conroy intended to bring in a younger team this year and he has by providing some spots for talent like Pelletier(injured but it was his spot to lose) and Coronato but it feels like this wasn't really the case. One older player was traded for younger talent and is seems that's the spark that the youth provide hasn't exactly helped to rile up the group.

This in turn brings the aspect of patience into play. The current group that the flames have isn't right. The blend simply isn't there. You can't win in this league with a team like the Flames, they lack diversity in playing styles and key players in key positions. Our #1 goalie is far too inconsistent, our defence is solid but the blend at forward doesn't work. Our best line at the moment is our 4th line, you just can't win like that.

The Flames need to play the long game, tear it down and build from the ground up. Anyone who isn't considered a core player going forward should be made available.

The problem isn't coaching, the problem isn't Conroy, the problem was the Flames lacked direction and were far too impatient for too long. There are many examples of this but the Monny/Kadri deals are prime examples of being too impatient and lacking direction. Why was Kadri needed when you already had a very solid second line centre(who is better than Kadri at his role) in Mikael Backlund ? You could have played out a bit of the season, saw how things went and dealt accordingly.

That's where my concerns are as a Fan, I want to know what exactly is the plan moving forward. Impossible to tell from the outside looking in.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Dustin Wolf.

What do we do now?

Can't call him up right now while the team is in shambles.

[nik-]

The guy with the office at CNRL.

This is all a result of ownership mandate. Maybe he'll back off and let the staff work now that he's bilked the taxpayers for his new arena.

[Jordan!]

First game I watched of this team this season, The Flames are No good..

Yikes. Seriously Clark Wilm era bad.